had to laugh today when i read that WOW is now going F2P, blizzard have decided that instead of a trial period of 14 days. u can now play up to level 20 for free with no time limits. does this mean the end of wow as a paid service?
p.s don't know if this is the right place to post this, if not i'm sure someone will tell me?

Level 20 is hardly "going free." That covers, what, five or six mediocre dungeons, one battleground, a dozen minor quest hubs between factions, no raids, no heroics, no arenas, no ranked battlegrounds, no reputations, limited to slow mounts, and has all the chat and auction restrictions of the old 14 day trial, and on top of it all, most specs aren't even fully functional at 20, so it's not even to the point that people can decide if they like the class they picked, let alone the game they're playing.

WoW is extremely slanted towards the level cap. There's about enough to do at level 20 to get you to level 21, and when 21 doesn't happen you're out of game. Heck, they could cut the trial off at level 84 and you're only getting about two thirds of the meaningful content, and still so little opportunity for progression that it can hardly be called free.

not exactly free to play in the term most would understand it, this is basically a giant demo now, and it makes sense for them to do. you can race through the first 20 levels very quickly now, and wow has proven to be addictive for many people so people will try it and get sucked in to the point where they start subbing.

any existing player has almost certainly gotten past level 20 and is in the same situation they were before.

is this the end of wow as a paid service? no. this is their attempt to entice more players and get more sub money.